DIY Velvet & Wool Acorns

This was the most unexpected wonderful little fall project. 

Last week I saw these acorn caps next to a curb in a parking lot. Of course they caught my eye so I picked them up to get a closer look. I thought they were cute but tossed them up next to the bushes and left. A few days later they were back on the pavement in the same place and did not move for another full day. By this time I realized I could use them to make cute fall acorns so the following morning I picked up all that I could find and took them home.

Thankfully I had some scraps of velvet and wool in my stash and could start experimenting. 

I have only made a few so far but was anxious to share my find. Hopefully I will have more to post soon.

Happy Friday!

Homemade Tomato Sauce

The time has finally arrived to put up Tomatoes. They seemed to be much later this year but it has been a good crop despite the slow start. Besides making salsa, pico de gallo, buschetta,  BLT's, etc. with our tomatoes we also like to make Homemade Tomato Sauce. This is our second batch of sauce which we made last Saturday afternoon after returning from vacation. Needless to say, we had a lot of ripe tomatoes in our garden that needed to be picked. 

Besides drying pears the hubs also likes to make tomato sauce so he went right out and started picking. He filled my two gallon pickle buckets to the top with all the ripe tomatoes and then set up the kitchen to begin preparing the sauce. The first step is to gently drop a handful of tomatoes in boiling water. Once the skin splits they are removed and placed in an ice bath.

Unfortunately I was not in the kitchen when he started so there is not a picture however I did arrive in time to help with the last half of the boiling and ice bath. 

Once the tomatoes are cooled down in the ice bath they are skinned, cut into quarters and seeded.

The quartered tomatoes are then pureed and garlic and spices are added. The sauce is simmered for several hours.

After it thickens up a bit it is removed from the heat and sits until it reaches room temperature. 

At this point we measure the sauce and pour it into freezer bags. This batch made about 5.5 quarts so our total for this year is approximately 11 quarts or 2.75 gallons.  

Now that the rain is here and the days are cooler it is the perfect time to get out all of those fall recipes that call for tomato sauce. Comfort food at its best!

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Preserving Pears: drying method

It is that time of year when we are busy preserving summers bounty. Our old pear tree had another bumper crop so while I worked on pickles the last couple weeks the hubs worked on the pears.

We like to dry our pears and are still using the food dryer that my grandpa built many years ago. I believe he made three and I could not begin to count how much fruit has been dried over the years in just our hand~me~down dryer alone. It may take a little longer but the end result is the same...

...piles of Pears!

Next year we are thinking about canning some of our pears. Now that we have two pear trees there will be a lot more to preserve so it looks like we will have our work cut out for us. 

Have a Great Weekend!

Canning Sweet Pickles

It has been quite a few years since I have made Sweet Pickles however when the kids were growing up I canned them regularly. They are a family favorite and I have had many requests recently and decided it was time to make a batch. 

My recipe calls for 25 lbs. of pickling cucumbers which seems like a lot however it only ends up making between 15 - 18 quarts. Our family tends to go through that amount pretty quickly. 

Once they are washed and sliced they are put into two buckets. 

The cucumber slices are covered in boiling brine and weighted down with a plate.

Over the next week they stand in the brine. 

Once they have soaked they are drained, washed, covered with boiling water and sit for another day. 

The next several days they sit in a mixture of vinegar, sugar and spices. 

After two weeks they are ready for canning. 

Once the syrup is reheated and pour over the pickles the lids are screwed down tight. Next comes the sweet sound of popping as the lids start sealing. Always a good feeling once they are done.

We should have some happy campers when I hand out jars of pickles this weekend!

Happy Thursday!

late summer backyard harvest

September has arrived and at it is beginning to feel a lot like fall which means it is time to pick our Honeycrisp apples as well as our...

 mini pumpkins, 

 Alberta peaches and Bartlett pears. 

Our new little peach tree had 7 peaches this year which we were very excited about. Since there were so few though we just decided to slice them up and eat them. Our old pear tree, on the other hand, was loaded and we are currently in the process of drying them. We do save some for baking and also to share. We have another pear tree that we planted last year. It also produced some nice big pears but only a half dozen or so which we will be picking soon. 

The mini pumpkins are so cute and are ready and waiting for decorating or possibly for cooking. If I can't decided I will probably do both however not for a few more weeks! In the meantime, I am making pickles and will be back soon with more about my canning. 

Have a wonderful day!